Standard hoping for Rijeka repeat
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Article summary
Meeting for the second time, R. Standard de Liège will be hoping to repeat their last victory against HNK Rijeka as the sides begin their Group G campaigns in Belgium.
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R. Standard de Liège cannot expect an easy ride against on-song HNK Rijeka, though they got the better of the Croatian side last time they met their UEFA Europa League Group G opponents.
Form guide
• These teams crossed paths in the first round of the 1986/87 UEFA Cup, Milorad Pavić's Standard eking out a 2-1 aggregate win against Josip Skoblar's Rijeka. The teams for their last Belgian encounter, a 1-1 draw on 1 October 1986, were:
Standard: Bodart, Luyckx, Thomas, Siquet, Aussems, Delangre, Petrović, Claesen, Czerniatynski, Van Der Smissen, Repčić.
Rijeka: Ravnić, Jelavić, Milenković, Kotur, Paliska, Sredojević, Janković, Radmanović, Matrljian, Valenčić (Škerjanc 75), Vujčić.
• Standard have not won in their last five European home games (D1 L4) and have yet to register at home in UEFA competition this season. They lost all three of their 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stage home games.
• Rijeka, by contrast, have won all three of their European away fixtures this season – scoring ten goals in the process – but they did not score in their three 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stage fixtures on the road.
Trivia and links
• Standard's Slovenian defender Martin Milec turns 23 on the Saturday after the Rijeka game, 20 February. He will be up against fellow Slovenian international, and former NK Maribor team-mate, Goran Cvijanović, who plays in midfield for Rijeka.
• Prior to a 2-1 defeat to NK Lokomotiva Zagreb in the Croatian league on 24 August, Rijeka had been on a run of 16 straight wins in all competitions, which had begun on 2 May.
The coaches
• Standard coach since summer 2013, Guy Luzon led his native Israel on home soil at the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Injury forced him to hang up his boots at 21, but Luzon found his calling as a coach, leading Maccabi Petach-Tikva FC into the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage.
• Hired in February 2013, Rijeka coach Matjaž Kek led his native Slovenia to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. Kek started and ended his playing career as a defender at NK Maribor – where his father and son also played – either side of a long spell in Austria, and returned there to start his coaching career.
